Livingstone hails Blair

London Mayor Ken Livingstone has sought to draw a line under his differences with Prime Minister Tony Blair and Chancellor Gordon Brown.

Following his readmission to the Labour Party on Tuesday - following a three-year exile, Mr Livingstone praised Mr Blair for "having the guts" to back his return, and Mr Brown's stewardship of the British economy during a global downturn.

The Mayor said he believed his return to the Labour fold would help him win more Government investment in the capital, and insisted he would not clash with Treasury over his spending plans.

Asked about his relationship with Mr Brown, Mr Livingstone told BBC Radio 4's The World At One: "I did not agree with the decision of the Labour Government to stick with the Tory spending controls in its first two years - I said that very strongly and forcefully.

"I have to also say, though, that if you look at the way the Chancellor has conducted the finances of this country over the last three or four years, which has meant that, whereas in much of the rest of the world the economy has gone through very painful and severe recessions, here we avoided recession. And I give him credit where it is due."

He also praised Mr Blair for admitting his warning that Mr Livingstone would be a "disaster" for London had turned out to be wrong.

Mr Livingstone said: "I have been following British politics for 40 years. I have never heard a Prime Minister have the guts to get up and say 'I was wrong'.

"I think actually the Prime Minister's standing has been improved by this."

Mr Livingstone said his office and the Prime Minister's had been negotiating his return "for some time".

"But I couldn't know how he was actually going to handle it... By simply saying 'I was wrong' we lance the boil, we can all move on."